FAMILY on Ice
by Tenchi Kai
Summary: What if Russian Yuri had a cousin? What would she be like? What's her story? OC.
1. Enter Irena and Lilly

Family on ICE. (Looking for better title)

Quick note here: An American is writing this. I know very little about Russian and Japanese culture. I do not mean to offend anyone who is of those cultures that might be reading this. I know that I don't know a lot, but I am working on learning. I read up quite a bit to write this! I know about (and love) the world in which Yuri! On Ice is in, and I'm writing in that world. Thank you!

Irena Plisetsky wasn't well known, and had very little spectacular about her. She had performed well on the Russian college entrance exam and, at the age of twenty-two, was focusing on her studies. She would graduate with a degree in accounting soon. From there, she would probably find a boring job in a boring accounting firm.

She worked her whole life to make her family proud. It was her cousin, however, that her family focused on. Despite her academic accomplishments and the age difference, she lived in his shadow. Yuri's shadow. The "Ice Tiger of Russia".

Yuri was, Irena understood, deserving of the attention and praise their Grandfather gave him. He _was_ a tiger on the ice.

And all of this isn't to say she was jealous or bitter; the feelings were more complicated than that. She knew every time he would be on television, and would watch every single time. She would also text him and congratulate him without fail. Sometimes he'd reply, sometimes he wouldn't.

Irena would never admit it, but she was practically living vicariously through Yuri. If nothing else, his life was sure more interesting.

The blonde girl sighed, closing a textbook she couldn't bring herself to look at anymore. A headache was building slowly, and it was getting late besides. She turned off the reading light she had, and shuffled in her bed, a top-bunk in a bunk-bed tucked away in a corner of her tiny dorm. In the middle of pulling the covers over her, she heard the door to the dorm open.

And what's worse, the light turned on. It wasn't helping her headache.

"Hey, Irena!" Always so cheerful.

Irena's roommate was Lilly. Lilly was an American, coming to Russia on a student visa to study in a hard-to-get-into specific music program. She was an undeniably smart, talkative girl that Irena became fast friends with.

The language barrier was nearly a non-issue because Lilly had taken it upon herself to learn enough Russian to have basic conversation before she ever came to study. The conversations her and Irena had, Lilly would say with confidence, were quickly filling in the gaps.

Often, they would even watch the ice skating competitions together.

" _So, wait, he's your…cousin?" Lilly said, watching Yuri perform his first senior program. That sliver costume he wore fit him so well. He almost looked like he was spinning on his spine … or flying. Both. He looked…. beautiful._

" _Yeah, he's our family's little kitten." Irena laughed, entranced by what she was watching. He completed his program, and in that moment, one of his fans – who must have somehow become aware of his family's nickname – threw a headband with cat ears perfectly on his head._

" _That's," Lilly paused for a moment, placing her hands over her mouth. "That's just too adorable. He's great on the ice, though. Amazing, even."_

" _They call him a prodigy for a reason." Irena nodded._

"I was almost asleep." Irena groaned.

"Sorry," Lilly tip-toed over the mess that was Irena's side of the room. To be fair to Irena, it was mostly clothes and useless school papers. Nothing too gross – like food left uneaten or anything like that. "I finished my practice late again."

"I know. I was hoping you'd get in after I feel asleep." Irena muttered.

"Man, you're grumpy when you're light on sleep."

"You already knew that." Irena shifted again, turning on her side to face the wall opposite Lilly.

"Well, I figured this would happen." She spoke, holding out a cup of coffee that Irena hadn't noticed she'd been hiding behind her back. "I brought your favorite coffee."

Almost immediately, Irena sat up and grabbed the cup, beginning to sip on the warm, sweet liquid. Coffee was Irena's ultimate weakness, her favorite thing. After a few sips, Irena watched Lilly sit at the desk on the other side of the room.

Something was off here.

"Why are you being nice to me? You never bring me coffee."

Lilly sighed. "Am I that obvious?" She grabbed a laptop from her blue backpack and set it on the desk. "Well…I know that the Grand Prix Finals are coming up…" As she spoke, her voice got more and more excited.

"Okay," Irena was glaring at her now, taking judgmental sips of her coffee.

"You know I was born on a military base in Spain, right? Well, I've always wanted to go back. And they're in Barcelona this year!" As she spoke, Lilly was frantically typing something in to her laptop, pulling up a website about the Grand Prix Finals. "Your cousin's made it all the way there! Let's go watch him! Two birds, one stone!"


	2. Irena Sends a Text

The headache was starting to pulse now. "I don't know, it sounds like you're using me." Another judgmental sip of coffee. Some part of her knew it to be true, though; she wanted to go. She had always wanted to go see her cousin skate in person. She had never been able to, not a competition. Not to mention that any excuse to leave campus was welcome.

Lilly groaned for a moment, putting her lengthy, curly black hair into a ponytail. This was normally how she began her process of getting ready for bed. Getting up from the desk, she headed to stand in front of the bunk bed. Looking up at Irena, she frowned. "I'll make you a deal," she sounded absolutely determined.

"Okay?" Irena cocked an eyebrow in her direction.

"If Yuri can get us there for free, we go. We go, we have fun, we see the sights, we leave. All _mostly_ free." She said, examining Irena's body language.

"You know what? Fine. It happens while we're on winter break, anyway." Irena took a last sip of her coffee and held it down to Lilly. "Put this in the fridge for me, I'll heat it up in the morning."

"And you'll text Yuri?" Lilly asked, while grabbing the coffee and placing it in the minifridge under the desk.

"I'll text Yuri." Irena grumbled back.

"First thing? Cause I know how lazy you ca-"

"First thing."

Irena laid down, shuffling on her side again. She maneuvered her small frame quickly, getting under her sheets. The lights turned off, and her glasses were set to the side of her pillow.

She thought for a moment what it would be like if she did visit her cousin over her winter break. What would Spain be like? Would Yuri even want her there? When they were younger, they skated together once or twice. She remembered he even said she was "decent" before. Looking back, you might even have called them friends.

With the memories of skating in her mind and the usual background noise of whatever Lilly was listening to through her headphones, she finally fell asleep.

As soon as she woke up, heated up her coffee, and was dressed – thick blue jacket, jeans, black t-shirt, and boots – she sent Yuri a text message. "Are you well, Kitten?"

After her first class (a rather boring business ethics class) he had replied. "What do you want?"

Irena chucked. He was always such a tiny ball of anger. "I'm proud of you. You made it all the way to Grand Prix Finals this year, your first senior year. I've been watching."

"I know. You always text me after. Answer the question."

He wasn't going to make this easy. "I was hoping I could there to support you at Barcelona. You do want your favorite cousin there, right?" She quickly sent a second text. "I'll be on winter break. Got nothing else to do, anyway."

"Only cousin. And … I'll see." That was a far gentler response than she expected.

She physically nodded as she responded. "Okay. It would be great to finally see you compete in person."

* * *

Yuri was taking a break from practicing, eating at the cafeteria that the skating rink had. Irena wasn't someone he usually talked about, but she was someone he cared about. The times he spent with her over summer and winter breaks during childhood were some of his favorite memories. The blonde hair and blue eyes they shared even sometimes got them confused for siblings.

Not that it didn't piss him off when she called him _Kitten_. Well, he had a nickname for her as well. He read the screen in surprise.

Of course he'd love to have someone there that he knew there. He would never, ever admit that, though.

"I'll see." He finished typing out, making sure to leave it open. He'd have to ask, but he was always offered extra tickets for these things. Getting Irena out of Russia might be good for her, the thought whispered in his mind.

* * *

"So, what did he say?" The voice chirped as she made it back to her dorm. Seems like Lilly hadn't left yet, as she was still in her pajamas. As always, her long black curly hair was barely kept back with her pony-tail.

"I'll see," Irena said, doing her best to imitate her cousin's voice.

"Well, that's not a no!" Lilly was so happy she was nearly dancing. Seems like she was gathering her things to get ready for the day.

"Why do you want to go so bad anyway?" Irena took her sliver laptop out, opening it to begin her homework for the day.

"To see the country I was born in, I told you that already." She said, still prancing around. Was she trying to imitate ice skating?

"Yeah, okay, but you seem pretty excited for just…that."

"Well, I mean, I get to meet your famous cousin." She stopped and took on a thoughtful expression. Suddenly, her face lit up. "Maybe even Victor and the other Yuri!"

There it was. The real reason. "Got a crush, there, Irena?"

"NO!" Lilly's voice raised, and she scrunched up her face. "I mean, even if I did, that's not why I want to go!"

She opened her mouth to retort, but her phone buzzed before she could get the words out. "I got your tickets, little piggy." Little piggy, she read it and twitched. Yuri always called her that because, unlike him, she didn't do athletics. To the normal world, she WAS thin. To the ice skating world, however, she was overweight.

"Are we going?" Lilly questioned aloud as soon as she heard the phone notification.

Irena simply held up the phone so that Lilly could read it herself.

"He calls you piggy?"

Did she miss the tickets part?


	3. Irena and Lilly Super Charge It!

"Irena! Thank you!" She hugged her friend. If Lilly was any more excited, Irena thought, she'd jump out of her skin. The excitement was electric and very infectious.

"Thank Yuri when you see him," A smile creeped onto of Irena's lips, hugging Lilly tightly for a moment and then letting go. "We'll be on the plane in about two weeks, after we finish finals. Think you'll be able to get good grades?"

"Perform well!" She corrected. "And yeah, I'll be able to focus." Sometimes it was easy to forget Lilly was a music major.

The conversation ended with Lilly looking at her watch and grabbing her backpack, heading to class and stating her goodbyes as she walked out of the dorm. Irena went to her laptop to study and Lilly went to her class.

Irena knew the two weeks would pass quickly. English was a common language spoken at the competitions, so Irena asked Lilly teach her some basic terms and questions when she wasn't studying or otherwise occupied. In return, Irena shared some of the stories from childhood with Yuri. She got to laugh about _kitten_ , and heard the story behind her little piggy nickname.

She even tells Lilly about Victor one night before they fall asleep. She had known Victor from the stories Yuri shared with her. She also knew him from the few times she met him during her childhood. Victor had long hair then, and she embarrassingly confused him for a her the first time she saw him. Yuri had kicked her almost immediately in the back, and made her apologize. Which she did. "He's already won a gold medal!" Yuri had spat at her.

Finals were difficult, but Irena stayed focused and studied hard. The last few weeks of class, she spent half of her time in the library and the other half in the local coffee shop she loved so much. She made decent grades, and finished the semester on a positive note. Art history, a required course, was her most difficult class. She had spent many a night with flash cards.

Lilly had done the same, performing amazingly at the recital that served as her semester final two nights before they were to head to Spain. She played a score that was a Celtic arrangement on her fiddle – she knew better than to call it a violin when it was used for this type of music. The green dress and her tamed long black hair flowed as she performed, Irena recalled. Helping her get her hair under control was worth it.

"That was beautiful!" Irena had told her, handing her a single rose to celebrate her performance. Because she was far from home, Lilly's family – mostly her brother - had requested she provide Lilly with such as well as record the whole thing. Irena didn't need to be told to know to keep that information to herself, however.

"I know," Came Lilly's prompt response. Lilly's brow was a little damp from sweat and the movement from the performance, and her nose was sniffing the rose. "Thank you, it reminds me of home a bit."

"You're welcome."

As the friends walked back to their dorm from the music hall, happy the semester was now officially over, they made plans for the next day. They had one day to pack for the week they planned to spend with Yuri. There were going to fly to Spain, and then fly back to Russia with Yuri and his coach in tow. That was the plan, anyway.

They packed enough clothes for two weeks, snacks, and Lilly even brought her fiddle. "Because music is my life," was the response Irena received when she bothered to ask.

"Does that make numbers and coffee my life?" Lilly asked, to no response. They finished packing the next day, and were quickly on their way to the airport the next morning.

Yuri alerted them just before they boarded the plane that they would get there during practice. They would have to get a taxi from the airport to the rink or the hotel. They had, without any fanfare, decided unanimously to go to the rink to watch Yuri practice. Irena and Lilly both were oozing excitement, and couldn't wait to see _Kitten_.

"He's going to kill us," Irena giggled as she got in the taxi.

"I want to prank him with the fact that I know Russian," Lilly giggled as well. "He won't expect it at all."

"No! We thank him first," Irena was full-on laughing now. As she looked out of the taxi window, she took in the beautiful architecture of Spain. Her heart was filled. It had been longer than she would admit since she'd seen a blue non-gray sky.


End file.
